Consumers
won’t be allowed to switch from non-life to life insurers
Policy
holders might not be allowed to switch from existing non- life health insurance
policy to a health insurance provided by life insurers, says a news report
published by Business Standard. Irda would restrict health insurance
portability to only non-life players.
This
is another restriction announced by Irda under portability schemes. A few days back,
Cafemutual had published a story stating that portability schemes will restrict
coverage only to the limit of pre-existing health insurance (read here: http://tinyurl.com/3djb8qh).
According
to an Irda official, says the report, health insurance products provided by the
life insurance players are very complex compared to non-life products. Portability allows a policyholder to shift the policy
offered by one insurer to the other while keeping the terms and conditions of
the cover unchanged. Therefore, another reason for restricting the
facility is that while life insurers provide products for long term purpose that
usually range from three to fifteen years, general insurance policy term is
usually a year.
Irda has delayed the
implementation of portability schemes to October 1st due to
operational issues cited by insurers. The authority has also stressed on the
fact that insurers
must provide historical data on policyholders' health related details of claims
to ensure that portability is available in a smooth manner to the
policyholders.